Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

And he saw when they were in tribulation: and he heard their prayer.

And He looketh on their distress When He heareth their cry,

But when their cry came to his ears, he had pity on their trouble:

Nevertheless He looked upon their distress, When He heard their cry;

Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction - literally, "And he looked upon the trouble that was upon them;" or, "and he saw in the distress to them." The meaning is, that he did not turn away from it; he saw the need of interposition, and he came to them.
When he heard their cry - literally, "In his hearing their cry." Their cry for help came before him, and he did not refuse to look upon their affliction. The idea is, that he was attracted to their case by their loud cry for help; and that when he heard the cry, he did not refuse to look upon their low and sad condition. God assists us when we cry to him. We ask his attention to our troubles; we pray for his help; and when he hears the cry, he comes and saves us. He does not turn away, or treat our case as unworthy of his notice.

Nevertheless he regarded their affliction,.... Or "looked on them in distress" (d); he saw their affliction, and had compassion on them; he was so far from abhorring and despising the affliction of the afflicted, that he pitied them and sympathized with them; in all their afflictions he was afflicted; he looked upon them with an eye of pity and concern, and helped them out of their troubles.
When he heard their cry; or their "prayer", as the Targum, and so other versions; crying is prayer; and it denotes vocal and vehement prayer, such as is put up to God in distress; and which he hears and answers; his ears are open to the cries of his people.
(d) "et vidit in angustia eis", Montanus, Gejerus; so Musculus, Tigurine version.

If, as is probable, this Psalm was written at the time of the captivity, the writer now intimates the tokens of God's returning favor.

The poet's range of vision here widens from the time of the judges to the history of the whole of the succeeding age down to the present; for the whole history of Israel has essentially the same fundamental character, viz., that Israel's unfaithfulness does not annul God's faithfulness. That verifies itself even now. That which Solomon in 1-Kings 8:50 prays for on behalf of his people when they may be betrayed into the hands of the enemy, has been fulfilled in the case of the dispersion of Israel in all countries (Psalm 107:3), Babylonia, Egypt, etc.: God has turned the hearts of their oppressors towards them. On ראה ב, to regard compassionately, cf. Genesis 29:32; 1-Samuel 1:11. בּצּר לחם belong together, as in Psalm 107:6, and frequently. רנּה is a cry of lamentation, as in 1-Kings 8:28 in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple. From this source comes Psalm 106:6, and also from this source Psalm 106:46, cf. 1-Kings 8:50 together with Nehemiah 1:11. In ויּנּחם the drawing back of the tone does not take place, as in Genesis 24:67. חסדו beside כּרב is not pointed by the Kerמ חסדּו, as in Psalm 5:8; Psalm 69:14, but as in Lamentations 3:32, according to Psalm 106:7, Isaiah 63:7, חסדו: in accordance with the fulness (riches) of His manifold mercy or loving-kindness. The expression in Psalm 106:46 is like Genesis 43:14. Although the condition of the poet's fellow-countrymen in the dispersion may have been tolerable in itself, yet this involuntary scattering of the members of the nation is always a state of punishment. The poet prays in Psalm 106:47 that God may be pleased to put an end to this.